1. Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to a fastening system for fastening a cabin fitting element to a support structure of an aircraft. Particularly, but not exclusively, the disclosed embodiments refer to cabin fitting elements having at least one electrical installation.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
The interior lining of aircraft is generally composed of individual elements, in which substantially plates or panels are placed adjacent to each other in a given framework or support structure. These plates serve for example as roof- or side covering. During maintenance work, these covering plates must be able to be removed again individually and without great effort, for example in order to be able to carry out maintenance work behind the plates, i.e. between the outer skin of the aircraft and the interior lining, and they must then be able to be inserted again without difficulty. In the case of panels with incorporated electrical components, this means that one has to open up and close again both the mechanical connection and also the electrical connection of the panels with each other or with the support structure. In the current cabin fitting parts which have been mentioned, separate mechanical and electrical connectors are provided for this. Thus, for example, roof wall panels are secured by means of three or four mechanical fastening elements, two of which are constructed as loose bearings and one or two as fixed bearings. The electrical connection of such a roof wall panel is usually produced by means of a plug connection, in which one plug is fixedly installed on the panel and one plug is loosely mounted on the support structure of the aircraft.
In order to keep the mechanical stress of the electrical plug connection low and hence to avoid damage to the electrical connection when the panel is loosened and removed from its support structure, check cables must be additionally provided in the prior art, which hold the panel which has been loosened from its anchoring in suspension, until the electrical plug connection is produced or separated independently of the mechanical anchoring of the two parts. Accordingly, in the reverse operation, namely when installing the panels, the check cables also constitute a facilitating of the operation.
In order to ensure a suitable play during the letting down of the panel for installation/dismantling, depending on the length of the check cables, the electrical cables in this prior art must be installed with an excess length. The result of this is that material has to be used which is only required for assembly. Therefore, the weight of the aircraft is increased unnecessarily. Furthermore, the over-long cables are not fixed, and they can move in an uncontrolled manner with the movements of the aircraft, which may lead to noise and to damage to the cables through friction.